Courtesy MBGFC / Jenni Guerry Images
The third-annual Mongo Offshore Problem wrapped up 2022 with what was one other wonderful season, proving that the competition’s new US East Coast division managed to draw extra of the perfect in American big-game fishing, including to the already profitable Gulf of Mexico division of years previous.
The 2022 Mongo leaderboard stayed lively, with many late-season chief mix-ups and classes ending with slim wins. The format is designed by opponents for opponents, and is meant to assist stage the enjoying area and entice extra groups to compete by permitting groups to fish when they need and as usually as they need. No matter climate or moon part, this match provides pleasure to these fun-fishing journeys—making each chief, crimp, battle, and gaff shot matter.
Groups fishing the Mongo take a look at previous to departure through the use of the match’s cell app, which permits the individuals to view who’s fishing in actual time. Groups additionally use the app to attain fish that meet the difficult minimum-size limits, which additionally occur to be the very best within the trade, implementing the match’s credo: Let the small ones go to allow them to develop.
The 2022 fleet of 214 registered groups, with boats 21 to 92 toes, fished greater than 3,200 anglers, collectively competing in additional than 4,400 journeys, which included fun-fishing and match days. Mongo individuals strove to land the biggest blue marlin, swordfish, tuna, wahoo and mahi of the season of their division, in an try and be named the heavyweight champs with prestigious awards that included a customized 40-inch trophy and their share of greater than $500,000 in money and $40,000 in sponsored prizes. The outcomes are as follows:
Gulf Division
Rising Son’s, Viking 58
- Blue Marlin, 785 kilos
- Winnings: $121,125
Rising Son’s, a 58-foot Viking out of Orange Seashore, Alabama, weighed in a 785-pound blue marlin caught by angler Toby Berthelot throughout the Cell Large Recreation Fishing Membership’s Labor Day Invitational in September to win the staff two tournaments with one fish. Berthelot’s fish additionally surged forward of the 2021 Mongo winners, It Simply Takes Time’s 763-pound blue marlin they weighed throughout the staff’s three-in-a-row wins on the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Basic in June.
Double Nickel, Fin Cat 40
- Swordfish, 260.5 kilos
- Winnings: $51,000
Capt. Nick Froelich was enjoyable fishing out of Sarasota, Florida, on September 15 when he pulled into Marina Jack to weigh a 260.5-pound broadbill. With this fish, the Double Nickel staff beat out Grace-C-Mae, which was holding on to the highest spot since June with a near-250-pounder caught out of Destin, Florida.
Cajun Made, Bahama 41
- Yellowfin Tuna, 217.2 kilos
- Winnings: $70,125
The Fourchon, Louisiana, staff Cajun Made, with Capt. Chris Moran on the helm, weighed a 217.2-pound yellowfin tuna on August 18 at Grand Isle, Louisiana’s Bridge Facet Marina to take the lead from the 72-foot F&S Second Wind, which weighed in a 206-pound yellowfin throughout the Mississippi Gulf Coast Billfish Basic in June.
Intense, Contender 44
- Wahoo, 93.1 kilos
- Winnings: $44,200
The Cell, Alabama-based Staff Intense weighed a 93-plus-pound wahoo in September throughout the King Grasp match in Biloxi, Mississippi. Angler Andrew Montgomery’s fish beat out Double J’s 92.3-pound wahoo weighed at Hurricane Gap Marina in Grand Isle in June, making this the second yr operating that the Intense staff received each the Mongo and King Grasp wahoo class with the identical fish.
La Posada, Buddy Davis 47
- Mahi, 45.6 kilos
- Winnings: $58,650
On Could 29, Capt. Drew Holk and angler Kellan Lewis had been out enjoyable fishing on La Posada out of Pensacola, Florida, after they weighed in a forty five.6-pound mahi at Outcast Deal with and Marine in Pensacola. This massive fish beat out many groups’ makes an attempt to steer the mahi class, together with Stroll West, whose respectable 45.1-pound mahi was weighed in July.
Courtesy Mongo Offshore
East Coast Division
RoShamBo, Guthrie 65
- Swordfish, 393.8 kilos
- Winnings: $9,225
Capt. Willie Zimmerman put angler Jeff Jacobs on a five-plus-hour battle with what he knew to be a good fish whereas enjoyable fishing out of Ocean Metropolis, Maryland, on September 21. The 393-plus-pounder set the brand new Maryland state document for the species to beat out the 2021 document sword, a 301-pounder set by angler Peter Schultz on July 23, 2021.
Scup Slayer, Viking 72
- Bigeye Tuna, 204 kilos
- Winnings: $8,925
Scup Slayer’s Capt. Rob Goodwin, angler Nicky Rhodes, and the staff out of Massachusetts weighed in a 204-pound bigeye caught out of Cape Cod throughout the Oak Bluffs Bluewater Basic match in July, taking the first-place spot. The 66-foot Viking, C-Pupil, barely missed the highest spot with their 203-pound fish.
Widespread, Crown Boatworks 51
- Mahi, 41.8 kilos
- Winnings: $25,625
Capt. Jay Watson’s Widespread staff, together with angler Kristen Wiles, had been fishing out of Oregon Inlet Fishing Heart in Nags Head, North Carolina, after they landed a 41-plus-pound mahi in early Could. The fish stayed on prime of the leaderboard in the course of the season. Outnumbered, a 37-foot Freeman Boatworks, took the second-place spot with a 40.8-pound fish weighed at Toler’s Cove Marina in Mount Nice, South Carolina.
Learn Subsequent: The so-called 30 by 30 motion may do important hurt to sport fishing. Study extra about it right here.
The Mongo Offshore board of administrators will add the Hawaiian Islands as a 3rd regional division, and can develop the East Coast division to incorporate all of South Florida and the Florida Keys for 2023. All three divisions will observe the identical profitable format as 2022, with fishing starting on Could 1 and ending on September 30.
Registration is now open for the 2023 season at mongooffshore.com.
